


( Reformation )

by opheliasashes



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: F/M, I love brackets way too much but thats ok, Post canon, Role Reversal, Secret Relationship, lingfanweek, theyre both cheeky little shits and I love them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-11
Updated: 2017-07-11
Packaged: 2018-12-01 01:13:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11475495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/opheliasashes/pseuds/opheliasashes
Summary: Lingfan WeekDay Three: Role Reversal“You’re optimistic.”“Not really. I’m just too selfish to settle for anything else.”





	( Reformation )

“Say Lan Fan, how different do you think everything would have turned out if you were a princess and I had been your bodyguard?” 

The words are lazy and carefree as they roll of his tongue. He lays out in the sun, surrounded by the hill walls of his private garden and trying desperately to not think about the mountain of paperwork waiting on his desk for him. She watches from a respectable distance, tucked away so she’s not noticeable, but not completely out of sight. The silent guard who is never truly whispered about because she has ears everywhere and looks aren’t the only thing about her that kill. He is beloved by his people and she is feared by hers; together they command the respect of whatever room they enter. 

Anyone walking by would have no cause to suspect anything. (Respectable, honourable.)

“I’d make a terrible princess my lord.” He doesn’t say that she shouldn’t worry about that because she’ll make a wonderful queen and that’s what matters, but he can’t. (Not quite yet. He’s got to ensure he can be rid of the other 49 wives before he can narrow it down to one.) Even as a lighthearted joke, he knows it will earn him a scolding about that he isn’t particularly in the mood for. So he thinks it, and finds himself quite content with the mental image. 

“Ah. I disagree. You have a gracefulness that is the envy of the most talented dancer.” 

“And yet I cannot dance.” 

“A trivial manner. The court would ensure you had learned by now.” 

“I wouldn’t be content with dancing.” 

“It’s just like sparring. Shall I show you?” Once upon a time, a comment like that from him would have had her flushed red up to her ears. Now, after several years of cheesy one-liners behind closed doors it only brought a tinge of colouring to her cheeks. Over time she has learned to mask her emotions better. (It still didn’t stop her heart from skipping a beat). 

“I cannot leave my post. Besides, dancing could lower my guard.” 

“Ah. So responsible. See, if I had been the guard, I don’t know if I could do that all the time.” 

“You would have to.” All the humour has left her eyes. He sits up to see her face better from across the garden. 

“Fu would have murdered you otherwise.” Her words make Ling laugh. 

“Are you implying he wasn’t plenty tough on me in training?” 

“Not as tough as he was on me.” Her words are a challenge and Ling wants to cross the grass and bite her lips as he kisses her. (Want is the key word here and it pairs with an unspoken can’t. Respect. Propriety.) 

“Alright. So let’s say he was tough as nails. Do you think I’d make a good bodyguard?” 

“You’d manage as long as you were well-fed. You’d be a lot less useful passed out.” 

“Are you saying you wouldn’t still sneak me snacks?” He pulls his lips into a pout and bats his eyelashes. 

“I’d probably have to. And with the dresses they’d make me wear, I could hide them in the sleeves.” 

“Oh they don’t like it when you do that. They say it ruins the silk.” 

“And yet you do it anyway.” 

“There’s a lot of things I do that the court doesn’t like.” He shrugs and she looks around to ensure they aren’t being watched and haven’t been overheard. (You never know who is listening.) 

“Alright,” she says as her shoulders relax after confirming they are alone, “If I had been the princess, would we have still found the philosophers stone?” He muses over her words for a bit, watching the wind rustle through tree leaves and across pond water. 

“Yes. We would have found it. Your sheer tenacity would have seen to that. I don’t know if you could have become Greed though.” To his surprise, she shrugs.  
“If I had to, I would do it.” 

“Why Greed though, when Wrath or Pride would have suited you so much better.” His comment is cheeky but there’s no lie to his words. (Lan Fan is a lot of things, but selfish isn’t one of them.) 

“Would you have lost an arm?” Her question is a retort to his boldness. 

“Anything for you.” His reply is sincere and they both know it. (Anything. Any thing.) 

After that they’re quiet for a while. The clouds roll past, briefly covering the sun until it warmth peaks out again. 

“So in this world where everything is reversed. Do I become Empress?” 

“I don’t see why not.” 

“And have they married me off yet?” 

“Not quite. You’re both immovable object and unstoppable force. They say nothing stirs the icy heart of Empress Lan Fan.” 

“Except, perhaps, her handsome bodyguard?” 

“Oh but that’s a secret. No one knows that. She hides it far too well.” He’s up and walking towards her now. 

“A shame.” (A flash of sadness in her eyes.) 

“And why is that?” As he reaches her, she stands. Ling recalls a time before crowns and kingdoms when they had been the same height. Now he stands a few good inches over her. Behind the mask, her eyes are twinkling. (He wonders if she knows that. She wonders if he knows he is beautiful.) 

“It would be comforting to think that somewhere there could be a place for us.” She takes his fingers into her hand. It is unusual for Lan Fan to initiate physical contact (Duty. Respect.) but when she does, Ling knows she needs it. So he presses a kiss to her brow and doesn’t even give pause to who might accidentally stumble onto the scene. 

“There is a place. It’s the here and now.” She doesn’t say anything, but instead allows herself to lean up against his chest. The wind tousles the few loose hairs which have managed to break free from the tight bun behind her mask. He gently removes it from her face and lets it drop to the ground beside them.

“You’re optimistic.” 

“Not really. I’m just too selfish to settle for anything else.” 

He kisses her a second time, only now on the lips. They pull apart eventually. 

“You know what I think,” she whispers (so softly you might mistake it for the breeze in the trees). 

“What?” he answers, equally as quiet. 

“That no matter what hand we had been dealt, the two of us would always end up here.” 

“You know what I think?” 

“What?” 

“You’re absolutely right.” This time Lan Fan kisses him and Ling knows that no matter what he is going to want to have moments like this until the stars themselves fall from the sky. Propriety be damned.

**Author's Note:**

> Day Three! This piece turned out to be somewhat odd, both in terms of how I interpreted the front and the style in which it is written. I thought it turned out to be kind of poetic and cool. I live for feedback so let me know what you thought!


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